The present invention generally relates to an apparatus and a method for attaching one or more components to another component. More specifically, the present invention relates to a latch for connecting a surface mount component to a printed circuit board prior to soldering of the component to form an assembly.
It is, of course, generally known to add components to a printed circuit board. Many components, however, are mounted at or near an edge of the printed circuit board or even off of the edge of the printed circuit board.
To mount such components, solder screening of the printed circuit board is first conducted followed by placement of the components on or near the printed circuit board. Then, reflow soldering of the assembled component to the circuit board is required to complete the process for assembly of surface mount components to the printed circuit board.
Many components, however, such as connectors, are unstable prior to the reflow soldering process. As previously mentioned, some components are mounted toward the edge or off of the edge of the printed circuit board. Therefore, prior to the reflow soldering process, these components must be mechanically held in place.
A couple of variations have been proposed to mechanically hold the components prior to the reflow soldering process. One such proposal is extension of rails of the printed circuit board itself. That is, two opposite sides of the printed circuit board are extended to form strips beyond an end of the printed circuit board. At that end, the surface mount components require attachment to the printed circuit board and may be balanced between the extended sides or rails of the printed circuit board thereby mechanically holding the components prior to reflow soldering of the same.
Alternatively, another known method for mechanically holding a surface mount component prior to the reflow soldering process is to provide a mechanical-type support attached as an extension of the surface mount component. The support or extension requires a press fit into an aperture formed in the printed circuit board.
Each of these known methods, however, have drawbacks. The extended support rails from the printed circuit board are generally fragile. Furthermore, the support rails do not force the surface mount component tail into the soldering pad as is necessary for securing the surface mount components to the printed circuit board.
Likewise, the mechanical press-in support requires a force in the Z-direction (or Z-force), i.e., a force perpendicular to a plane of the printed circuit board to seat the surface mount components in the printed circuit board. A standard assembly mechanism uses a vacuum to pick the surface mount components and place the surface mount components in the assembly as required. However, a Z-force is not available for such a typically available pick and place vacuum assembly for mounting surface mount components to printed circuit boards.
A need, therefore, exists for an improved latch for surface mounting components to a printed circuit board that both lutes and holds down the surface mount components during a pick and place assembly operation and further provides location and stability throughout the assembly including during the reflow soldering process.